‘Then when we saw one of the brigands having his way with Ceingar…’ Eadulf shrugged. ‘Well, Bleidbara gave the signal to attack. I thought the other two, who were probably waiting their turn with her, poor girl, would surrender when they saw the odds were against them. But they refused and fought with such a fury that it could only have ended with their deaths or our own.
‘It is a pity that I am not able to question Ceingar until tomorrow. She might have had some information about the leaders of this band by which we could track them.’
‘She has suffered much, that one,’ Eadulf reflected. ‘Best that she have a good rest to recover from her ordeal. Then her mind will be clearer.’
‘Yes, although sometimes a fresh remembrance of things is more helpful than letting a person rest on the memory. After a time, the mind begins to rationalise, make interpretations of the memory and thereby time distorts it.’
‘It seems that we are no further forward to a solution to all this,’ Eadulf said, rather wearily. ‘We have been dragged into some local mystery not of our own choosing — and, to be honest, we don’t understand the half of it. What makes it worse is that we know almost nothing of the language and have to rely on others for interpretation.’
‘We know a little of the language of the Britons, thanks to our time in the Kingdom of Dyfed. So we have some idea of what is being said.’
Eadulf was moody.
‘A little knowledge is dangerous,’ he grumbled. ‘The words might be similar here but we still have to look to others for detailed information. I do not think we should have become involved in this business. At least, I think Riwanon’s commission to you was ill-advised.’
Fidelma’s mouth tightened.
‘We became involved when my Cousin Bressal was murdered, when our friend Murchad was cut down. We
Eadulf was about to respond but thought better of it. It was no use arguing when Fidelma was in this kind of mood.
‘Well, I am for bed,’ he said. ‘It has been another long and tiring day, and I am exhausted.’
Annoyed at Eadulf’s lack of understanding, Fidelma did not reply. She sat for a long time by the window looking out onto the shimmering moonlit waters of the Morbihan with its dark shadows of islands. Carefully, she turned over the events of the last few days in her mind. There was something there which nearly made sense…but not quite. She was sure that the answer was almost within her grasp; almost, but not quite. It needed something, some simple key, to make everything fit into place.
‘There is no sign of the girl Iuna this morning,’ remarked Riwanon. ‘Do we have to fend for ourselves?’
Fidelma and Eadulf had come down that morning in a sombre mood to find Riwanon already seated at the table. Macliau was sitting in a corner by the hearth, staring with moody unseeing eyes at the embers of a fire that had not been attended to for some time. He neither raised his hand nor acknowledged anyone. Brother Metellus had returned to the abbey on the previous afternoon as matters there needed his attention. As they came down the stairway into the great hall, the door opened. Bleidbara entered and stood looking about uncertainly.
Fidelma noted the peevish tone in Riwanon’s voice, but she understood that the Queen had been through much these recent days, with the attack on her and her entourage, and must be feeling the strain.
‘Where’s Budic?’ asked Riwanon now. ‘I seem deserted by my bodyguard, as well as my maidservant.’
‘Budic is in the stables, practising his swordsmanship with Boric,’ Bleidbara said.
‘And Ceingar? Is she still abed?’
‘I’ll go to the kitchens to see if she is there with Iuna, shall I?’ he suggested.
‘It would be helpful,’ Fidelma intervened, noting that Trifina was also missing. ‘Meanwhile, I’ll check that she is not in her room. There is an excuse for everyone to have overslept this morning.’ She turned to Eadulf: ‘Throw some logs on the fire before it goes out.’ She raised her eyebrows, indicating Riwanon. From her expression, he understood that it fell to him to keep the company distracted in some way so that the heavy atmosphere could be lifted.
Fidelma ran lightly up the stairs. Instead of going straight to Ceingar’s room, she made her way along the corridor to Iuna’s chamber and knocked gently on the door. Iuna was always up early and her absence puzzled Fidelma even more than Ceingar’s did. There was no answer. She knocked again, this time a little louder, then waited a moment before she tried the handle. The door swung open. The room was in semi-gloom but Fidelma saw that the bed was empty. The bedlinen was rumpled almost as if a struggle had taken place there. Then she noticed the pieces of a broken clay bowl on the floor beside the bed and a spoon, as if someone had been eating from the bowl and dropped it, breaking it. Certainly Iuna had left the room in a hurry.
Fidelma quickly examined the chamber. She noticed that the door to the adjoining chamber was slightly ajar and remembered that Iuna had said she slept in the room next to Trifina.
She walked across the chamber and pushed the door open. Again she saw that the bed was empty — but here the bedlinen had been pulled back as if in haste. A jug had been overturned near the bed; it had fallen onto a thickly woven carpet, spilling some water, but obviously the carpet had cushioned it so that it had not broken, nor would it have created any noise as it fell.
Fidelma was about to walk out of the room when she noticed a dark stain on the linen sheet. She moved across and peered at it, wishing there was more light, then she put forward a finger and touched it. It was damp. She raised the finger, examined it and realised that it was blood.
She stood undecided for a moment or two before leaving through the main door into the corridor. She was about to go back to rejoin the others when she remembered the object of her mission — to locate Ceingar. Riwanon’s maid had been allocated a nearby chamber.
Fidelma paused and knocked upon the door. She was not expecting an answer and so, when none came, she merely opened the door and looked inside.
She was expecting another empty bed. In that expectation, she was unfulfilled. For Ceingar lay in the bed. She lay on her back, her white face turned to the ceiling, her mouth open slightly, and her eyes wide and staring. There was a knife buried in her chest and the dark stains of blood were all over her body and over the sheets.
Fidelma did not have to examine the knife too closely to see that it was a dagger — with the emblem of a dove on its handle.
There was a sense of shock in the fortress after Fidelma had told the others about her grim findings. Only her own quiet authority stemmed the mood of panic among them. There was much disquiet among the servants and the guards at the news. Macliau had retired to his chamber in his now usual uncommunicative mood. His dazed features seemed genuine enough, and Fidelma saw that he had taken a small amphora of wine with him. Only Riwanon and Budic remained in the great hall.
‘I just pray that my husband, Alain, reaches here safely,’ Riwanon confided to Fidelma. ‘There is much evil here in Brilhag and I do not think we will be safe until he arrives.’
‘I agree that there is much evil,’ Fidelma replied quietly. ‘And with your continued permission, I shall try to make what sense I can of these events.’
Riwanon made a small gesture with her hand.
‘I am afraid, my Hibernian sister, there is little you can do here. I was foolish to suggest that you could help. After all, you are in a foreign land and do not speak our language. Best stay here in safety and pray for the safe arrival of my husband. I was wondering if we should send a messenger to hasten him.’
‘While it is wise to be cautious, his messenger said he would be here before dusk today. I feel I must do what I can, however limited my means of doing so,’ insisted Fidelma. ‘But, by all means, send one of your men to find your husband.’
Riwanon smiled softly.
‘You have a good heart, Fidelma. If you feel you must persist in your enquiries, then carry on. You have my authority to do what you can to resolve the mysteries that beset this place.’
‘Your authority?’ pressed Fidelma.
‘My full authority,’ confirmed Riwanon. ‘But I will remain here with Budic as my bodyguard until my husband
